Psalms 88

I Cry Out Day and Night Before You

A Song. A Psalm of a the Sons of Korah. To the choirmaster: according to b Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil ▼
▼ Probably musical or liturgical terms
of d Heman the Ezrahite.

1  O  Lord, e God of my salvation;
I f cry out day and night before you.
2 Let my prayer come before you;
g incline your ear to my cry!
3  For my soul is full of troubles,
and h my life draws near to i Sheol.
4 I am counted among those who j go down to the pit;
I am a man who has no strength,
5 like one set loose among the dead,
like the slain that lie in the grave,
like those whom k you remember no more,
for they are l cut off from your hand.
6 You have put me in m the depths of the pit,
in the n regions dark and o deep.
7 Your wrath p lies heavy upon me,
and you overwhelm me with q all your waves.  Selah
8  You have caused r my companions to shun me;
you have made me s a horror ▼
▼ Or an abomination
to them.
I am u shut in so that I cannot escape;
9  v my eye grows dim through sorrow.
Every day I call upon you, O  Lord;
I w spread out my hands to you.
10 Do you work wonders for the dead?
x Do the departed rise up to praise you?  Selah
11 Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
12 Are your y wonders known in z the darkness,
or your righteousness in the land of aa forgetfulness?
13  But I, O  Lord, cry ab to you;
ac in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 O  Lord, why ad do you cast my soul away?
Why ae do you hide your face from me?
15 Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,
I suffer your terrors; I am helpless. ▼
▼ The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain

16 Your wrath has swept over me;
your ag dreadful assaults destroy me.
17 They ah surround me like a flood ai all day long;
they aj close in on me together.
18 You have caused ak my beloved and my friend to shun me;
my companions have become darkness. ▼
▼ Or darkness has become my only companion

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